jobs

New dawn for medical professionals

/ Steinar Opheim

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Today very few, new mission hospitals are built. The job opportunities are still vast for Christian, medical professionals who want to serve God through their work.

Once upon a time mission agencies built hospitals and helped people in poorer nations to get access to much needed medical care. The same hospitals provided jobs for Christian, medical professionals. Many young Jesus-followers took a medical education in order to use their skills for God and serve where the need in the world was the greatest.

Today doctors, nurses, physiotherapist and others in the medical field may struggle to find jobs through the more traditional mission channels. Due to changes in the development and aid policies, building hospitals that “forever” will be dependent on support from abroad is no longer seen as a viable strategy. Thus the need for medically trained missionaries has declined.  Several young and not so young medical professionals have come back disappointed after trying to find a mission job abroad.

Here is the good news for all of them:

The international job opportunities for medical personnel are greater today than anytime earlier in history. Medical personnel can even get well-paid jobs in areas of the world where there are few Christians and the spiritual need is great. Several of the Middle Eastern countries, including Saudi Arabia, are among those constantly searching the international job market in order to staff their hospitals and clinics. The salary is often good, and the opportunities for sharing the Gospel are many.

– Christian health workers can show the love of Christ in a very concrete way, concludes a North African doctor TMBriefs has talked to. For security reasons his name and location cannot be mentioned. Several years ago he started an organization that recruits and sends medical workers to needy places in his own region. He got the vision for the new work when he took part at a Christian conference in a neighboring nation. When people got to know that there was a medical doctor at the conference, they started bringing sick and injured family members and friends to him. The rumors about his presence spread. Before the conference was over, he got to treat people who had walked on foot for days in order to meet with him.

– We experience many miracles from the Lord in our region right now. In a time like this it is very important that people who are filled with God’s love can come and join us. Christian medical workers can serve as key personnel in living out the Gospel here, says the doctor.

Ten more years as the world’s greatest oppressor?

/ Steinar Opheim

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The same nation has been on top of Open Door´s World Watch-list for ten consecutive years. International observers think it may remain the world´s greatest persecutor of Christians for ten more years if the political system is not changed.  If you want to serve in a really tough environment, this nation is one of your best options.

– One of the remaining Communist states, North Korea is vehemently opposed to religion of any kind. Christians are classified as hostile and face arrest, detention, torture, even public execution. There is a system of labor camps including the renowned prison No. 15, which reportedly houses 6,000 persecuted Christians alone. Despite the severe oppression, there is a growing underground church movement of an estimated 400,000 Christians, state the people behind the latest update of the World Watch List.

Business as usual

The description was approximately the same ten years ago. Then Kim Il-Sung, who is regarded as the founder of the North-Korean nation, governed the country with an iron fist.  Since then both his son and his grandson have come to power. But the situation for Christians and other religious minorities has remained unchanged.

One Christian in North Korea reports that they are not able to help brother and sisters who have been abused by the police.

– Some have been tortured so much that they can no longer walk. Still helping them is not an option since it involves taking too big risks. The only thing we can do is to pray. We know that Jesus will not leave them nor forsake them, he says.

God can make changes

One observer Tentmaking Briefs has talked with says there are no signs that the regime will change in the foreseeable future.

– Humanly speaking there is not much hope for a change, but God can still do something. Two generations of Christians in North Korea have cried to the Lord for help. Brothers and sisters around the world join them in this fight. I believe the Lord can create something new in this nation just as he did when the iron curtain fell and communism perished, says the observer.

Another person who just visited North Korea speaks about the awful suffering he was witnessing:

– I´ve been to more than 40 nations, but I´ve never seen anything similar to the misery I met face to face in North Korea.

There are some job opportunities for foreigners who want to work in North Korea.  One good contact point is Pyongyang University of Science and Technology that hires several professionals from abroad. Another option is Christian Friends of Korea, which is a registered charity in North Korea.

Let God use your profession overseas – free seminar shows how

/ Guest Contributor

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Free Tentmaking Seminars are coming to North Bay, Ontario (Aug. 4), and to Lake Avenue Congregational Church in Pasadena, California (Sept. 18 & 19 – Friday evening at 7:00 pm or Saturday morning 8:30 am).

Alan” and “Rachel” opened their home to people they met in China and invited new friends to an English language Bible study. They sang Christian songs, discussed a specific passage of the Bible, mostly about Jesus, prayed together, ate refreshments, and enjoyed each other. Within a few months a couple of people became Christians. Friend brought friends, the group grew, and more came to Jesus. They baptized the new believers and discipled them as they grew, working together with and mentoring leaders within the group. Even before they left, the group sent one member to Tibet to reach people. After two years, “Alan” and “Rachel” left the group as a small house church in the hands of the leaders they had been developing. That church reproduced at least six more house churches over the next five years!

        Were “Alan” and “Rachel” full-time missionaries? No! They were everyday working Christians. They both worked as teachers. But they were determined to call Chinese people to Christ. The people in their Bible study came mostly from people they met at work. They simply integrated work and witness, and God used them powerfully.

        Ruth Siemens did the same thing while teaching in international schools in Peru and Brazil. She reached colleagues, students, and school service staff through natural on-the-job contact. As her life and words awakened spiritual hunger, she invited them into her home and into Bible studies. She geared these studies just for them to investigate Jesus. In her spare time she did similar things at the nearby university, and started the Christian university student movements in Peru and Brazil. These were student-run, and Ruth coached the students in reaching other and discipling them.

        This story is being repeated over and over by Christians who are dedicating their professional skills to work overseas in order to reach the local people. “Mark” worked with a company in Central Asia to arrange for new sites to operate their business. He quietly demonstrated his faith and shared when people asked. And they did ask. He repeatedly met Muslim warlords and tribal leaders. One of them demanded that he tell a religious story as a “holy man.” With trembling, he told the story of Jesus. It moved the leader and his men and he invited him to tell more about Jesus every time he returned. Out of this a new church sprang up among this unreached people group.

        God is using workplace Christians willing to give their professional skills and their hearts to reaching lost people around the world. He can use you, and he will, if you are willing.

        Have you wondered if you could do more for Christ’s global mission? Longed to see more people come to Jesus? And be transformed into his image? Wondered if God could use you more powerfully without switching to full-time ministry?

        Do you want to know more? To find out how you might do the things these Christians did? Then Global Opportunities’ free Tentmaking Seminar is designed especially for you. In three to four fast-moving hours you can learn all you need to know to start down this path:

  • Why tentmaking is so powerful Biblically and globally
  • How to integrate work and witness naturally
  • How to find a job in the global job market
  • What steps to take to pursue tentmaking